Sulvan Starstrider's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Sulvan Starstrider wanted the human king's head, but her own generals would not hand her a single soldier. She stood in the war hall of the white fortress-city, the one her parents had ruled before a human army felled them on the field of battle. Five commanders sat around the long table. None of them looked at her like a queen. They looked at her like a girl playing at swords. "Three years of war," the oldest general said. "We lose ground each season. Your father led us. You have led nothing." Sulvan pressed her palms flat on the table to hide the shake in her hands. On her shoulder perched a tiny dragon, no larger than a cat, its scales flashing green and copper. It hissed at the general. The men laughed. That laugh cut deeper than the words. "The eastern pass," Sulvan said. "The humans move supplies through it tonight. Give me one company and I will burn their wagons." "We cannot spare men on a child's hunch," the general said. The doors opened. A man walked in wearing plate armor forged from star-metal, pale and bright, a matching sword at his hip. He was half human, half elf, and every general sat up straight. Sulvan knew him. Alexander Foesbane had fought beside her father. The soldiers trusted him the way they refused to trust her. "The princess is right," Alexander said. He set a worn map on the table. "My scouts counted forty wagons at the pass. I planned to take them myself." He looked at Sulvan. "I would rather take them under her orders." The hall went quiet. The oldest general frowned. "You would follow her?" "I followed her father into worse," Alexander said. "She has his eyes and his nerve. Give her the company. If she fails, blame me." Sulvan held still. She had begged these men for months. One sentence from Alexander moved them more than all her begging. It stung. But she needed the soldiers more than she needed her pride. "One company," the oldest general said at last. "The mixed-heritage warrior rides with her. We judge her by what comes back." That night Sulvan led the company to the eastern pass. The wagons sat below, torches burning, guards half asleep. Her tiny dragon breathed a thin line of fire into the dry grass. The flames raced down the slope. Horses screamed. Wagons caught and burned. Sulvan's riders cut down the fleeing guards in the dark. She watched the supplies turn to ash. Her first victory. Her hands had stopped shaking. Alexander reined his horse beside her. He did not smile. "They will know who did this," he said. "The king has been looking for an excuse. Now you have given him one." Across the burning pass, a human rider turned and galloped east, carrying word of the elf princess who had struck first.